Maplin - Fortec HD Receiver €246 FTA Kit €117

Zaphod

Offers valid until 2nd October.


Fortec Passion MPEG4 HD Receiver - €246
• Digital satellite in high-definition quality
• Receive over 250 free-to-air digital channels and HD broadcasts
• HD upscaling for standard definition, improves picture quality through HDMI connection
• ''Plug ''n'' play'' ready; pre-loaded with all Freesat channels currently available in the UK
• Parental lock facility
• Plays MP3s from a USB memory stick
• Complete channel list and pre-sorted favourites (general, news, children''s, music, films, other)
• Last channel recall displays previous 5 channels
• HDMI and component (YPbPr) outputs
• 2 CI slots
• Multiple output resolutions: 1080i, 720p, 576p
• Variable Aspect Ratio (4:3, 16:9)
• HDTV (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 and MPEG2)
• 10,000 channel memory (7,000 TV, 3,000 radio)
• MPEG4/H.264 is an improved compression process for digital television and HDTV, 1080i (interlaced) and 720p (progressive) HDTV video format

Dr Dish Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rEf5Gmc2u0

FTA Kit - Fortec Beta Receiver, LNBF, 60cm mesh dish €117.50
• Full kit for receiving digital free-to-air satellite TV
• Fortec Beta receiver with 6000 channel memory
• Powerscan feature to easily find recently added channels
• Elliptical 58cm x 79xm mesh dish complete with LNB
• Stand and fixing bolts included
• Complete with 10m of coax cable and 2 screw-on F-connectors
• Instructional DIY guide

They also have the Metronic FTA kit (Metronic Receiver, 80cm dish, LNBF) for €130.

TheDriver

Those metronic receivers are desperate, sorry I bought one, really fiddly things altogether.

dkane

The Fortec Star Beta Receiver is a pretty good little box.
I bought 2 of them about 6 months ago in Maplin.
There is updated firmware floating around on the net that fix a couple of little issues with them (one being the tendency of the RF modulator to forget what channel it was set to)
But they have a nice set of features for the price.

IamBeowulf

Saw this in Maplins the other day.
Does anyone have this kit?
I'd love to know if it's worth buying. I'm not sure what HD channels (or any channels for that matter) could be picked up.
I have a DVB symbol on my hdtv---does this have any effect? Can I pick up MPEG channels with this TV alone? (I'm in Palmerstown and forgive my tech ignorance---when it comes to satellite/digital broadcast, I'm stumbled!:))

byte

The DVB symbol on your TV would probably refer to a digital terrestrial tuner integrated in your set. It would be useless for satellite signal.

The only free HD channels I'm aware of (on Astra2/Eurobird) are BBC HD and Luxe.TV